Worried, Jenny watched Matt bring Xavier outside. I’m not sure they’re ready for him yet. Not sure he’s ready either. He must have felt it too, his head shaking, his feet shuffling toward her, shoulders slumped, noticeably ashamed to be dressed in the enemy’s garb. “I don’t think right now’s a good idea,” Jenny said to Grant.
“As good as any. They need to hear it from him. Need to ask him what they want, unrehearsed or whatever you wanna call it.” Grant turned back to the crowd. “Listen! The kid’s comin’ out here to let you in on the truth. The whole story. This ain’t no joke. This ain’t some scare tactic. I’m tellin’ you, there ain’t no way around it. What Jenny says gonna happen, will happen.”
While Grant spoke, Xavier made it to Jenny’s side, closer than she would’ve normally liked, but understandable considering the circumstances.
“She told you how our old town fell to the Second Alliance,” Grant said, “and how some of us fought back. But… we failed, and we felt it. They made sure of that. We lost some people—some good people ‘cause of them. But this young man here”—he gestured to Xavier—“was thought to be the first one killed. But the Second Alliance, they playin’ games with everybody. They acted like they hung him to make a point. That no one can cross them. But instead of killing him, they killed someone else.”
“He turned on you guys!” the scarred man shouted. “That kid’s an insider. Sold you guys downriver.”
“That’s not true!” Grant shut the man down.
Jenny watched Xavier cringe, uncomfortable with the accusation. Wanting to offer his vindication, Jenny felt the words form within her mouth, but thought better of speaking them—Grant was doing well enough.
“Then what?” the scarred man continued. “Why’s he in that damn uniform if he’s one of the good guys?”
Grant sighed. “You know I wouldn’t lie to you. All you know me, worked with me. Hell, Me and Jenny, Matt, all of us have given our sweat, our blood to fix this place just like any of the rest of you. Some of your stares are uncalled for. We love this place. Don’t want to see it fall.”
Most in the crowd nodded with understanding.
“This here.” Grant pulled the unopened Second Alliance letter—the wax seal still intact—from his coat pocket. “This letter was part of the plan, but Griffin never gotta chance to read it. If you want, I can read the damn thing or any of you can, don’t care. I already know what it says without openin’ it. It’s short and sweet. The truth is, they ain’t got it much better than we have. Sure, they got fancy uniforms and big promises, but shit, you can put a dress on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
Very few chuckled through the tense air.
“The whole point is they’re comin’ for us. They gonna take us whether we want it or not.” He held up a second letter—the one Xavier found in Simon’s boot months ago. “This one shows what they willin’ to do to get what they want. Fake attacks. Murder. Kidnappin’. Both these letters I got are two very different things but come from the same monster.
“The S.A. came here with a peace plan, but they saw me and Matt. Two people that got away from River’s Edge with the truth of what was goin’ on there. When they saw us here, they took us. The only blessin’ was Jenny wasn’t there at the time, or we’d all be gone. You’d be sittin’ here without any answers. Sittin’ here with two dead bodies and three people missin’.
“But thank the Heavens, she wasn’t there. She’s the hero. Saved us. Came and got us with Sherman just like Danny would’ve wanted. I’ll say we got some revenge today, but not enough for what they took when they killed Danny and Griffin. Think of all those two did for you. How they took you in. They deserve better than just lettin’ this whole thing go.”
“We can’t sit back and let them come for us,” Jenny cut into Grant’s message. “They’ll have the advantage if we do. I know maybe I haven’t always been so outgoing, maybe rude or whatever at times, but I’ve been scared. I’ve been scared that they would find us, because I knew what would happen. And it did. But I’m not scared anymore. All of us together, we can do this. We’ve spilled their blood. They’ll be back. It’s a guarantee. But…” She took a second to catch her breath. “We can’t let that happen. They won’t expect us to take the fight to them. We’ll catch them off guard.”
“So, is there a plan?” the scarred man asked. “The kid in black know what’s going on?”
Everyone looked to him.
Xavier exhaled, then started.
Jenny sat at the desk in Danny’s room, alone, creaking back in his chair, trying to imagine him sitting there, not gone. Against her better judgment, she started through his framed photographs—his life. A wife. Kids. Friends. With each smiling face next to his, she couldn’t keep herself from letting a few tears go. She brought one of the lit candles closer to her, to the next picture she held within her hand—a bar scene filled with what she assumed were other cops.
“Is that…?” she grumbled. Of course it is. Griffin’s face was the last thing she wanted to see. Jenny couldn’t understand the respect Danny felt for the monster. So different, the two of them. Maybe more the same in the past. Perhaps, only the apocalypse started them on diverging paths. But all she knew of them was Danny, the man who gave everything for her, and Griffin, the man that only took.
Fearing someday her memories of Danny would fade, she carefully freed one of the photographs from its frame to keep for herself—the one with him and his wife, two daughters, a son, and an infant.
A baby… Her hand rested against her belly. No outward sign yet, but soon there would be no hiding it. She’d wait until then to tell. The time still wasn’t right she decided—the mission too important. It was better to hide her condition as long as she could rather than try to convince others she’d be able to fight, to be part of the movement she’d begun.
Finally… She smiled.
It took a while, but eventually the Depot voted in favor of avenging Danny and Griffin—the Second Alliance now their collective target. It wasn’t easy. At first, Xavier seemed too big of an obstacle to persuading them, but once the crowd opened their interrogation, Xavier met every question with the answer they needed. Jenny was impressed with how well he performed against the pressure, against the hostility some in the crowd projected toward him. But he held strong, speaking from the heart—they knew it with each passionate word he laid upon them.
River’s Edge will be ours again, and from there, we start taking them down, piece by piece.
“Sorry, took so long, but here it is,” Grant said, entering the room with an old typewriter cradled in his arms. “Took Lars awhile to find it and give me a crash course in settin’ it up. Prolly, the crash course that ate up most the time.” He chuckled, setting it down on the table. “Should be good to go. Now, if you’ll look right here, this here’s where—”
“I know how,” she said, her eyes still affixed to all the pictures in front of her.
“Guess I didn’t need the crash course, huh?” He waited for an answer, but it wasn’t coming. “You okay, girlie? Oh. I see…” He lifted one of the frames from the desk and tapped his finger against the glass. “Good man right here. Better than anyone in this place if we’re bein’ honest, but you already knew that.”
She nodded.
“You know he’d be proud of you with everythin’ you’ve done here. You don’t have nothin’ else to prove to him. Don’t let—”